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Loretta Lynn All star Gospel weekend Sept 28th and 29th 2013

Loretta Lynns inaugural Gospel Music Festival is getting major
support and media coverage this week. The Loretta Lynn Ranch will play
host to the first Loretta Lynn Gospel Music Festival in September 2013.

Its kind of like an old-time all-day singing and dinner on the
ground, Loretta said. I got to thinking. I have a big ranch where I
live so I decided to throw a good ole Gospel weekend here! I want family
and friends to bring a blanket, set up a picnic and then enjoy some of
my favorite Gospel music singers! I may even come down and sing a song
myself!

I hope it will be something we can keep going every year, she
continued. I already have a big campground and cabins where people can
stay. We also have a big stage  we have concerts all summer and have
done so since 1974.

Scheduled to appear are Mark Lowry, The Hoppers, The Isaacs,
Karen Peck & New River, Gold City, Rambo-McGuire, The Singing
Cookes, The Freemans, Brian Free & Assurance, Michael Combs, Archie
Watkins & Smoky Mountain Reunion, and The Sneed Family. For early arrivals, there will be a special bonfire and sing-a-long on September 27.

I should have started this years ago, Loretta said. But, its
never too late  I am inviting everyone to my ranch to have a great ole
Gospel time! Itll be a fun time for the whole family. Speaking of
family, I want to thank Jeff Sneed and The Sneed Family for helping me
plan and promote this Gospel Music Festival. We sure are looking forward
to this special time!

Before
the Coal Miners Daughter made her grand entrance, her beautiful twin
daughters Patsy and Peggy also known as The Lynns, opened the show
with a selection of songs from their latest record and a few covers.
Thats All Ive Got To Say, Sara and One Of These Lonely Nights,
can be found on their album The Lynns II, and the girls take on Don
Williams classic, Tulsa Time had the audience on their feet. Patsy
and Peggy joked around with one particular woman in the front row who
might have had just a little too much to drink, but that didnt stop her
from telling them that she is theirs and Lorettas #1 fan.

It
was most recently announced at the historic Ryman Auditorium in
Nashville, TN, this past May that Lorettas fascinating life story will
be adapted into a Broadway musical. Hollywood actress Zooey Deschanel,
who joined Lynn onstage at the Ryman Auditorium to perform Coal Miners
Daughter, will portray the coveted role.

As
timeless as her vast catalogue of hit songs, the simple girl from
Butcher Holler, Kentucky has not changed one bit since her humble
beginnings; Lynns unmistakable witty sense of humor and vivacious
persona shined brighter and bolder than ever at each performance. One
would be absolutely amazed at how strong and consistent her distinct
vocals remain on the live stage.

Showing
no sign of slowing down, Loretta Lynn has proved that age is nothing
but a number and just because you cant get airplay on the radio any
longer, neither of those two will stop her from doing what she loves
best; sharing her life and songs with her beloved fans.

Lynn
wasted no time serving up her awestruck audience with all the hits that
they had come to hear. Opening up the show with a rousing version of
They Dont Make Em Like My Daddy Anymore and Youre Lookin At
Country, the audience immediately rose to their feet with a standing
ovation.

The
excitement of the evening continued with additional ballads When A
Tingle Becomes A Chill, Here I Am Again, Blue Kentucky Girl to more
up tempo numbers like the sassy, You Aint Woman Enough, I Wanna Be
Free, Fist City, Ones On The Way and Dont Come Home A Drinkin.

Loretta
kidded around with the audience and took personal requests for their
favorite song of choice. She also shared the news that music legend
Chubby Checker will join her on the weekend of July 5th to perform in
honor of the late Conway Twitty at her ranch in Hurricane Mills, TN.

We
would also like to mention that there will be a very special Conway
Twitty exhibit unveiled on the same weekend in the Coal Miners Daughter
Museum. Lorettas personal assistant, Tim Cobb has done an excellent
job as curator of the museum through the years. Upon entering the
museum, fans are taken on a multi-sensory journey into the life and
career of Loretta Lynn complete with personal mementos, awards, outfits,
family photos and more. We highly recommend our readers to take a trip
down to Tennessee to visit the ranch.

Speaking
of Conway, Loretta performed a sensational duet of Louisiana Woman,
Mississippi Man with her friend and band member, Bart Hansen, at the
show. Fans were also treated to a touching version of Shes Got You,
originally recorded by the great Patsy Cline. During our interview with
Loretta earlier in the day, she informed us that after Patsy had a hit
with the song; she later recorded it and also had a #1 hit with it in
1977.

Loretta
turned the stage over to her backup singers Lee Hilliard, Michael Lusk
and Sheldon Feazel to harmonize on country classics Man Of Constant
Sorrow and then join her on Gospel favorites Everybody Wants To Go To
Heaven, Who Says God Is Dead and Where No One Stands Alone.

One
of the most significant moments of the night was the strong response
that Loretta received from the audience on the patriotic tune, God
Bless America Again. Loud cheers and solid applause came from the
entire theatre, and there were some who even stood up during the song to
show their undying love for God and country. Last but not least, the
signature song, Coal Miners Daughter closed out the 2 hour show.

Set List:

1. They Dont Make Em Like My Daddy Anymore

2. Youre Lookin At Country

3. When A Tingle Becomes A Chill

4. I Wanna Be Free

5. Here I Am Again

6. Fist City

7. Shes Got You

8. Crazy

9. Lead Me On

10. Louisiana Woman, Mississippi Man

11. Ones On The Way

12. The Pill

13. Dont Come Home a Drinkin

14. Dear Uncle Sam

15. Love Is The Foundation

16. Blue Kentucky Girl

17. Your Squaw Is On The Warpath

18. How Long

19. Man Of Constant Sorrow

20. Everybody Wants To Go To Heaven (But Nobody Wants To Die)

21. God Bless America Again

22. Who Says God Is Dead

23. Where No One Stands Alone

24. Coal Miners Daughter

Loretta's Life Line

Loretta Lynnâs life, line

In new book, she tells musicâs story

by James Reed

By the time the chorus comes around, you can usually tell if itâs a
Loretta Lynn song. The iconic country singer is famous for threatening
to send a rival to âFist Cityâ if she didnât âdetour around my town.â To
another would-be homewrecker, she once boasted, âYou ainât woman enough
to take my man.â Lynn has also sung about social issues weâre debating
to this day, from birth control (âThe Pillâ) to the results of not
taking it (âOneâs on the Wayâ).

This is clear: Loretta Lynn, whoâs still a spitfire at 76, suffers no fools.

Born a coal minerâs daughter, âin a cabin on a hill in Butcher
Holler,â as her signature song goes, Lynn has just written a new book.
âHonky Tonk Girl: My Life in Lyricsâ is an overdue salute to Lynnâs
50-plus years of songwriting, with a reverent foreword by Elvis
Costello.

Set
for release on Tuesday, the book presents Lynnâs lyrics alongside her
anecdotes about writing them. Itâs also sprinkled with passages about
musicians who have inspired her â from Kitty Wells to Jack White, who
produced Lynnâs Grammy-winning 2004 album, âVan Lear Roseâ â as well as
personal photos of Lynn throughout the years and handwritten lyrics
scrawled on hotel stationery.

On the phone from her home in Tennessee, Lynn recently reflected on
the art of writing from the heart and why it was so important to her
career, and sang the praises of a celebrated songwriter she hopes to
meet one day: Bob Dylan

Q. Early in the book, you outline your approach to
writing: âFor me, I could and can only write what Iâve lived.â Did
songwriting come naturally to you?

A. It did, but I never could write before I started
[writing songs]. I could never understand that. When I wrote my first
song [âIâm a Honky Tonk Girl,â released in 1960], they started popping
out every three or four days. It was a good thing because my writing is
what got me my first recording contract in Nashville. They said, âWe
donât have anybody that can write for you,â and I thought, âGod, whatâs
wrong with me?â (Laughs.)

Q. Would you have been as successful if you hadnât written your own songs?

A. No. Iâve never been able to ask a writer for a song
that I thought fit me right at the time. You have to be in the frame of
mind of what youâre going through at the time. When I recorded my songs,
that was exactly how I felt.

Q. I ask that question because music is full of great
singers who never get their due because they donât write. People really
do relate to artists who write their own material.

A. I think so, too. They can put more into it when they sing it, and whoever is listening to that song can feel it.

Q. When do you know youâve got a good song on your hands?

A. Well, I think singers â Iâm not going to say all of
them, because I hear some of them come out with the crummiest stuff â I
think most people that really write know when theyâve got a good song.
Me and Shawn Camp have been writing together. Heâs one of the greatest
little songwriters going right now. Heâs kind of a bluegrass singer, but
he can write any type of song.

Q. Was a song like âDear Uncle Sam,â about a woman torn
between the love of her country and the love of her man, controversial
when you released it in 1966?

A. That was when I first started singing, back during
the Vietnam War. My husband and I were listening to the radio to see if
the disc jockeys were playing any of my records. And I said to my
husband, âI am so sick of war. I donât like war. I canât take it.ââ He
said, âWell, why donât you just write about it?ââ So I got my pencil and
paper out right then, and I wrote just how I was feeling. I sing that
song every night. And you know, this has been the longest war weâve ever
had in our lives. So many people want to hear it. When I look out and
see people crying and wiping their eyes, it bothers me, because I know
theyâre going through something that I hope I never have to go through.

Q. Have you ever shied away from writing about something?

A. Nothing. If I think about it, Iâm gonna write it. You may never know why, but Iâm going to write it.

Q. I was astonished to learn in the book that âCoal Minerâs Daughterâ originally had eight more verses.

A. Yes. [My producer] Owen Bradley said, âLoretta, you
take some of them verses off. Thereâs already been one âEl Paso,â and
there will never be another.â Remember, âEl Pasoâ [a hit for country
singer Marty Robbins] was real long, almost five minutes. That was the
hardest thing I ever did, though, was take the verses off.

Q. Did you ever consider rerecording the song with the extra verses?

A. Well, I think I left the verses there that night [in
the studio]. I just ran off and forgot them. But I donât remember now
what they were.

Q. You just broke my heart.

A. (Laughs.) Well, listen, if Iâm ever going to put
those verses back together, Iâll send you a copy. Youâll get the first
dadgum one.

Q. I once read that you used to joke that everyone had
the wrong idea about you and Tammy Wynette based on your songs. In real
life, Tammy was the feisty woman you portrayed on record, and you were
the one more likely to stand by your man.

A. Thatâs the truth. We laughed about that, too.

Q. The last time we spoke, you mentioned how much you admire Bob Dylan.

A. And I still havenât got to meet him yet.

Q. Really? Should I make some calls for you?

A. Youâre gonna have to. I need to meet that boy. I saw
him the other day singing somewhere. Itâs so funny to watch him sing.
Have you noticed that? (Adopts a prim accent and sings): âThe answer my
friend/Is blowinâ in the wind.â (Laughs.)

Q. What do you like about Dylanâs songs?

A. Well, you canât beat that song, can you? I love that
song. And Bob just knows how to put a song together. Iâm not gonna say
that he knows how to sing them. Iâm just gonna say he knows how to put
them together. (Laughs.) To watch him sing is the funniest thing Iâve
ever seen. Iâm a big fan of his.

Q. Iâm sure heâs a fan of yours, too.

A. I donât know if heâs ever heard of me, you know.

Q. I guarantee you youâre wrong.

A. Well, I hope so. (Laughs.)

Q. The book ends with lyrics for several unreleased songs. Does that mean youâve got a new album coming soon?

A. Yes. Iâve got a new Christmas album coming out. Iâve
got a new religious album cut. And Iâve got another album cut of some
of the biggest hits that I ever wrote for Decca and you canât find
anymore. I rerecorded them.

Q. I hear youâve also been writing with Bret Michaels from the band Poison.

A. Yes. He came down and cut one of his records in my little studio. Iâm singing âThe Roseâ with him.

Q. The Bette Midler hit?

A. No, âEvery Rose Has Its Thorn.â

Q. Oh, wow. Thatâs a surprise. And youâre also working with Elvis Costello?

A. Yes. Heâs funny. He was telling somebody how he took
his computer out and was writing on his laptop. And there was Loretta
sitting with a pencil in her hand and a piece of paper. So that was our
writing session. (Laughs.)

Q. What does Jack White think of all these new collaborators?

A. He loves it. Jack is a great person. He really is.
You know he got married and heâs got two little girls. But him and his
wife broke up. I hate that, especially after the kids. But I seen him
the other day, and he looks good. He hadnât changed a lick. His hair is
still the same. Jack looks the same.

Q. When you think back on all the songs youâve written, is there anything that ties them all together, a common thread?

A. I think just knowing that I spoke my mind on every song I ever wrote

Honky Tonk Girl "My Life in Lyrics" Hardcover Book APRIL 2012

400 page Hardcover Book Coming 2012:

One of the most beloved country music stars of all time gives us the
first collection of her lyrics and, in her own words, tells the stories
that inspired her most popular songs, such as "Coal Miner's Daughter,"
"Don't Come Home A' Drinkin'," and, of course, "I'm a Honky Tonk Girl."

Loretta Lynn's rags-to-riches story--from her hardscrabble childhood in
Butcher Holler, Kentucky, through her marriage to Oliver "Doolittle"
Lynn when she was thirteen, to her dramatic rise to the top of the
charts--has resonated with countless fans throughout her more than
fifty-year career. Now, the anecdotes she shares here give us deeper
insight into her life, her collaborations, her influences, and how she
pushed the boundaries of country music by discussing issues important to
working-class women, even when they were considered taboo. Readers will
also get a rare look at the singer's handwritten lyrics and at personal
photographs from her childhood, of her family, and of her performing
life. Honky Tonk Girl: A Life in Lyrics is one more way for
Lynn's fans--those who already love her and those who soon will--to know
the heart and mind of this remarkable woman

Loretta Nominated for Vocal Event of the Year CMA

Sept 7th 2011:Lambert received a second nomination along with Sheryl Crow and Country
royalty, Loretta Lynn for Musical Event of the Year for their
performance of the classic "Coal Miner's Daughter." The song, which
tells the story of Lynn's humble beginnings, was nominated for Song of
the Year in 1971. The subsequent soundtrack for the movie by the same
title won CMA Album of the Year honors in 1980. Lynn, who was CMA's
first Female Vocalist of the Year in 1967 and first female Entertainer
of the Year in 1972, received her last CMA Awards nomination in 1994 for
Musical Event of the Year with Dolly Parton and Tammy Wynette for
"Silver Thread and Golden Needles."

THE LEGENDARY RAY PRICE STEPS IN FOR LORETTA LYNN ON SEPTEMBER 3RD AT HER RANCH

Legendary Ray Price fills in for Loretta Lynn September 3rd at her
Ranch concert in Hurricane Mills, TN. âI love Ray so much. I am very
proud to have him play at my Ranch for me. He has had more number 1
hits then all of us put together. I know my fans are going to lovehim
and they are in for one heck of a show,â states Lynn.

Lynn who is undergoing reconstructive knee surgery has had to
postpone her forth-coming tour dates to recover. For those of you who
have purchased a ticket for September 3rd your ticket is valid for Ray
Price. For those seeking a refund please contact the Music One ticket
office at 512-371-6924. Please visit LorettaLynnRanch.net and LorettaLynn.com for all updated information.

Lynn forced to cancel dates due to knee surgery

A statement says the country music icon will cancel dates through a Sept. 3 show at her ranch in Hurricane Mills, Tenn.

She
is scheduled to undergo reconstructive knee surgery and needs time to
recover. Lynn says in the statement she's "sad" to cancel the shows,
"but they tell me I've just got to stay off this knee for a while."

Lynn
recently returned to live performances with a show at the Grand Ole
Opry after being forced to cancel shows in Ohio and Connecticut because
she was hospitalized for heat exhaustion. The 76-year-old Country Music
Hall of Fame member said she had spent too much time in her garden in
extreme heat.

Lynn will try to reschedule her missed dates.

Van Lear Rose LP Record NOW IN STOCK CLICK ON PHOTO TO ORDER

Jack White Produced Grammy-Winner on Vinyl for the First Time!

This 2004 album paired the legendary Loretta Lynn with Jack White
at the production helm and was met with overwhelmingly glowing praise
from fans and critics alike. With all songs penned solely by Lynn, the
vibe here is both raw and heartfelt. Van Lear Rose won the 2005 Grammy for Best Country Album and the lead single "Portland, Oregon" won that same year for Best Country Collaboration with vocals.

Mastered directly from the original analog masters, pressed on
heavyweight 180-gram vinyl and coupled with a vibrant stoughton tip-on
sleeve, the Van Lear Rose LP is one that no collection is complete without.

Loretta Lynn Charms Bonnaroo Audience

Loretta Lynn

Photo Credit: Erika Goldring/WireImage

Written by Craig Shelburne: MANCHESTER, Tenn. -- Loretta Lynn earned a rapturous reception Saturday
afternoon (June 11) at the Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival, proving you don't have to be the Next Big Thing to draw an
adoring crowd at the eclectic, four-day event southeast of Nashville.

The 76-year-old Country Music Hall of Fame member
and her band performed just as the sun was starting to set, with hundreds of fans huddled under an awning known as That Tent.
For the first time on a dusty, scorching day, the sun dipped low enough to offer some relief, so music fans could give their
undivided attention to one of America's true musical treasures.

After a Buck
Owens tune by bandleader Bart Hanson and two songs by her twin daughters, Lynn stepped out with "They Don't Make 'Em Like
My Daddy Anymore." If anybody didn't know what they were going to get, she told them in a lively version of "You're Looking
at Country."

When you give Lynn a microphone, you never know what she'll say. A few songs in, she wanted to hear more
of the band in the monitors, then added, "I might be doing a strip show up here and wouldn't know it!"

Later, after
the punchy "Fist City," she observed that a lot of people were drinking soft drinks. Turning to Hanson, she smartly added,
"If they want to mix that Coke with something else, that's their business." The audience, of course, was lapping it up.

Lynn
invited the audience to holler up their requests, which prompted performances of "I Wanna Be Free," "Here I Am Again," "You
Ain't Woman Enough," "Blue Kentucky Girl" and more. Her band plays every song at pretty much the same tempo -- and often faster
than the originals -- so it's kind of like a whirlwind primer of her music.

That approach might have actually worked
in her favor. Lynn enjoyed her biggest success in the 1970s, before the typical Bonnaroo fan was even born. Amid the mature
folks, you could spot the uninitiated fans by their eye-opening expressions when Lynn sang about grabbing a cheating woman
by the hair of the head and lifting her off the ground. They especially enjoyed the frankness of "One's on the Way" and "The
Pill," meshed into one song.Lynn also took a moment to sing a medley of Patsy
Cline songs, including "Walkin' After Midnight," "I Fall to Pieces," "She's Got You" and "Crazy." On the latter track,
she must've been inspired by Willie Nelson, who wrote it, because her
delivery was just enough off the beat that singing along was pretty tricky.

At the mere mention of Conway
Twitty's name, the crowd screamed like crazy -- not exactly what you'd expect at Bonnaroo. Lynn and Hanson sang a sped-up
version of "Louisiana Woman, Mississippi Man," then got part of the way into "Lead Me On" until Lynn sang the last line where
the chorus should have been. When the band got temporarily flummoxed, she shrugged it off and told them, "That's it. I'm tired
of this song."

Then, Lynn sang the first song she wrote, "Honky Tonk Girl," which was released as her first single
in 1960. After the applause, Lynn remarked that she had invited Jack White, who produced her 2004 album, Van Lear Rose,
to come onstage with her. This was met with the kind of response you'd get by telling a kindergarten class that Santa Claus
was standing in the hallway. However, Lynn added that White stood her up, and if he had been there, he would've already been
onstage.

"He can't stand not to sing," she teased, saying that he doesn't even know when to leave the stage so she
can play her own show.

Lynn's feisty nature is well-suited to cheatin' and revenge songs like "Your Squaw Is on the
Warpath." After she sang that one, she told the audience, "I wrote that about my husband. He never did listen to it, either."
As a songwriter, she continued to exhibit her range with the heartbreaking "Dear Uncle Sam" and the defiant "Don't Come Home
a Drinkin' (With Lovin' on Your Mind)." If you've ever argued that modern audiences don't care for the legends, the adoration
in this show would have proved you completely wrong.

It's hard to know whether or not she meant to, but Lynn suddenly
repeated "You Ain't Woman Enough" in her set list, this time giving the audience a chance to shout the lyrics back to her.
And they did -- with fervor.

Lynn took a short break while her harmony singers delivered a few tunes. Then she joined
them on a gospel segment, offering "Everybody Wants to Go to Heaven" (the one about Hezekiah, not the one recorded by Kenny
Chesney), "Who Said God Is Dead" and "Where No One Stands Alone."For her benediction, she rendered her signature
hit, "Coal Miner's Daughter," and while they probably
weren't too many coal miners' daughters' in the audience that day, you'd never know it by the way they sang along. As the
show concluded, one young man walked past me, back into the masses. To no one in particular, he exclaimed, "That was awesome!"But if your eyes were on Loretta
Lynn, you were lookin' at country.

Loretta Attends Leadership award show

Except for those present at Nashville's Municipal Auditorium in 1967, no one has ever seen the first annual Country Music
Awards hosted by Sonny James and Bobbie
Gentry.

Indeed, the first telecast of the CMA Awards
wouldn't happen until the following year in a grainy, black-and-white
debut. But for those in attendance at Tuesday evening's (May 17) Dale
Franklin Leadership Awards ceremony at Nashville's Renaissance
Hotel, they were given the next best thing -- a glimpse back at country
music history.

With a little direction and
imagination from the evening's host and five-time CMA Award winner Martina
McBride, the night began with a reenactment of the never-before televised '67 awards show.

"The envelope please,"
McBride said as she began to reveal the names of those nominated for the first CMA female vocalist of the year award. With
a dramatic delivery, she said, "And the winner is ... Loretta Lynn!"

To
the room's roaring delight, the eight-time CMA Award-winning Lynn appeared onstage to perform her autobiographical and signature
song, "Coal Miner's Daughter."Marking the first time an organization,
rather than a few handpicked individuals, has been presented with the
honor, a video message followed Lynn's performance detailing
the Country Music Association's noteworthy history. Ranging from its
1958 inception to the creation of the Country Music Hall
of Fame, the CMA Awards and Fan Fair (now known as the CMA Music
Festival), the message also reflected upon the organization's
charitable contributions ranging from musical education to last year's
most recent flood relief efforts.

People Magazine Asks Why is Country Music Legend Loretta Lynn Appearing Regularly in Rodney Atkins' Dreams?

In the May 2011 Country Special issue
of People Magazine, country singer Rodney Atkins asks why country music
icon Loretta Lynn keeps showing up in his dream. According to dream
coach Paula Chaffee Scardamalia, who uses dreamwork with her clients and
teaches it to groups around the country, one of Lynn's roles is as
Atkins' Muse, and he needs to be writing down the songs she is singing
to him because they have the potential for sales that keep climbing. Loretta Lynn plays several roles in Rodney Atkins' recurring dream,
says dream coach, writer and story muse, Paula Chaffee Scardamalia. In
the May Country Special issue of People Magazine, country singer and
star, Atkins shares his dream about Loretta Lynn. He is sitting in
McDonalds with Loretta, the Queen of Country, who is singing a song to
him. Having no other paper, Atkins records the dream on a napkin, only
to wake in the morning, wondering, Wheres my freaking napkin?

In the May 2011 Country Special issue of People Magazine, country singer
Rodney Atkins asks why country music icon Loretta Lynn keeps showing up
in his dream. According to dream coach Paula Chaffee Scardamalia, who
uses dreamwork with her clients and teaches it to groups around the
country, one of Lynn's roles is as Atkins' Muse, and he needs to be
writing down the songs she is singing to him because they have the
potential for sales that keep climbingOne of Lorettas roles here, says Scardamalia, is as Rodneys
Muse, inspiring him with the song she sings to him. And she serves as a
symbol, both for Atkins style of musicsongs for the common man and
womanand for his potential to become, like Lynn herself, a country
music icon. But if that is what he wants, then he needs to write down
those songs that she sings to him on something other than a dream
napkin!

Scardamalia, who has studied and worked with her own and others
dreams for more than 20 years, connected with People Magazine at the
International Spa Association media event in New York City last August
while doing short ten-minute sessions for journalists, editors, and
producers. She was there to introduce the media to dream programs at
The Lodge at Woodloch, a destination spa and resort in Hawley, PA.
Scardamalia (http://www.diviningthemuse.com)
uses dreamwork with her private clients, and also makes special
appearances at Woodloch and other destination spas, to offer lectures to
guests on how to use dreams as sources for inspiration,
problem-solving, and personal insights.

Scardamalia says that dreams have many layers that are revealed over
time and that it is important to pay attention to symbols, metaphors,
and word puns in dreams.

What do we think of when we think of MacDonalds?  asks
Scardamalia. We dont just think of fast food. We think of fast food
sold in great amounts. Remember those signs on the arches with the
number of hamburgers sold? First thousands, then millions, then
billions. If Rodneys dream were my dream, that means the song Loretta
is singing to me has the potential for sales that keep climbing. Id be
keeping a journal and a voice recorder by my bed!

Paula Chaffee Scardamalia, Dream Coach and Story Muse, helps her
clients decipher their dreams, discover their personal, creative or
business stories, and then deliver them to the world. She is a speaker,
writer and the award-winning author of Weaving a Woman's Life:
Spiritual Lessons from the Loom.

Cyberspace, sports greats or the big break for Loretta Lynn?

Vancouver turns 125 years old later this year, so the Vancouver HeritageFoundation is looking for 125 places deserving of a plaque.

Voting begins Wednesday on the groups website.

The foundation, a charitable group, solicited online nominations in a program called Places That Matter.

Some
members of the public tuned in to their inner Chuck Davis  oh, we are
so going to miss our avuncular Mr. Vancouver this quasquicentennial year
 and suggested all kinds of worthy places.

Parks and bridges, churches and stadiums, even viaducts and corner groceries have been nominated.

One
of the more intriguing suggestions is to have a plaque placed on the
Granville Mall near Smithe Street to mark the site where the writer
William Gibson had the inspiration that led to his coining the word
cyberspace in his 1984 novel Neuromancer. He had peeked into
an arcade, witnessing teenagers playing video games so intently that
they were oblivious to their earthly circumstance.

A sports fan
can support a plaque at baseballs Nat Bailey Stadium (where a young
Brooks Robinson once impaled his arm on a fence) and Oppenheimer
Park (which the storied Asahi team of Japanese-Canadians called home)
and the Denman Arena (where the Vancouver Millionaires won the Stanley
Cup in 1915).

A music fan can support a plaque at the Smilin
Buddha Cabaret, 109 E. Hastings St.; or the Malkin Bowl in Stanley Park;
or the bump-and-grind Penthouse Cabaret, 1019 Seymour St.; or the
psychedelic hangout Retinal Circus (earlier Dantes Inferno) at 1024
Davie St.

Not to mention the supper club hot spots such as Isys or the Palomar or The Cave, with its papier-mâché stalactites.

One of the musical suggestions stands out.

Rob
Howatson, a magazine writer, nominated the former site of a Fraserview
chicken coop behind a bungalow in the 2500 block of Kent Avenue, near
Elliott Street.

It is a worthy site for a plaque, for it was an
event here that led to the first recording of one of the greatest
country music stars of all time.

Yup, Loretta Lynn, the coal miners daughter from Butcher Holler, Ken., had to come all the way to Vancouver for her big break.

Born
into poverty, married at 13, she moved with her husband, whom she
called Doolittle but others knew as Mooney for his history of running
moonshine. The couple escaped the limits of Appalachia to live in
Custer, Wash., a hamlet a few miles south of the border.

On her
18th birthday, by which time she had given birth to four children and
suffered two miscarriages, Loretta received from her husband a $17
(U.S.) Harmony guitar from Sears, Roebuck and Co. He had in mind a
singing career for his child bride.

Shy, nervous, uncertain as to
her abilities and stumped on her first tryout when asked in which key
she planned to sing (I didnt know what a key was and dont hardly know
now, she wrote in her 1976 autobiography), Mrs. Lynn began playing
small halls and taverns around Whatcom County, earning as much as $5 per
session. I thought I was a millionaire.

A few years later, she earned a spot as one of 30 amateurs to perform on The Bar-K Jamboree,
a live television show hosted by Buck Owens on KTNT (later KSTW) in
Tacoma, Wash. Mrs. Lynn won the contest. Her prize was a wristwatch so
cheap it broke the next day. But one of those who caught her performance
on television up in Vancouver was Norman Burley, a lumber baron.

Mr.
Burleys riches allowed him to dabble in sports (for a time he owned a
share of the Vancouver Mounties baseball club with Nat Bailey, the
founder of White Spot restaurants) and entertainment (he financed a
record label called Zero Records). Mr. Burley invited the singer to come
to Vancouver.

He said he wanted to help us by giving us a contract to make a record, she wrote in Coal Miners Daughter. He didnt wear any red suit or black boots, but that man looked like Santa Claus to us.

She
performed at a Fraserview dance hall, named for its previous use. The
Chicken Coop was owned by Irene and Clare (Mac) McGregor, according to
Mr. Howatson.

Don Grashey and Chuck Williams from the record label
heard a voice reminiscent of Kitty Wells and as country as a jug of
moonshine. They signed her and sent her to Hollywood to be recorded.

The label printed some 3,500 copies of a 45-rpm with Im a Honky Tonk Girl and Whispering Sea. She made two other releases for Zero before jumping to Decca and launching the career that would make her a superstar.

Mr.
Howatson has spent seven months researching the little-known story of
the makeshift dancehall. He is still seeking anecdotes and ephemera and
can be reached at vancouverchickencoop@gmail.com.

A site selection
committee formed by the heritage foundation, including former city
councillors Gordon Price and Marguerite Ford, will be guided by the
public voting, which ends on the citys birthday on April 6.

If the Chicken Coop doesnt get a plaque, then therell be Trouble in Paradise, as Loretta Lynn will be a Blue Kentucky Girl and the committee will have an appointment in Fist City with a Honky Tonk Girl.

Special to The Globe and Mail

OFFICIAL Loretta AP and Press release Via WWW.LORETTALYNN.COM

LORETTA LYNN POSTPONES SHOWS MARCH 18TH THROUGH MARCH 29TH

Due to a torn cartilage in her right knee, which is requiring surgery causing Loretta Lynn to postpone her March 18th through March 29th
tour dates at this time. Rescheduled dates will be added at a later
date. We thank you for your understanding and patience. Please check
with venues for further information on rescheduled dates. Thank you.

Hello Friends, just wanted to tell everybody, thank you for all
the get well wishes.. My Dr says I have a torn cartilage in my right
knee. And they need to fix it, so I had to cancel and reschedule some of
my up coming shows.. It aint no big deal!! They say I will be in and
out of the hospital in a couple hours ! But I wont be walking so good
for a couple weeks! Yall make sure to go on my web site and see when we
have the shows for March have been rebooked.. I love all of you and
thank you again for your prayers
Loretta

Loretta RESCEHDULED PENNS PEAK PA SHOW

Loretta Lynn- RESCHEDULED

LORETTA Penns Peak PA Show

Saturday, March 19, 2011

Friday, October 14, 2011

Doors Open 6pm Showtime 8pm

Premium Reserved Seating- $48

Regular Reserved Seating- $38

Loretta RESCEHDULED DC Show

930 club DC

7pm Doors

Loretta Lynn - RESCHEDULED. New Date 10/15/11.

MORE INFO

New Date! All 3/17/11 Tickets will be honored. Refunds at place of purchase through 10/14/11.

Loretta Lynn - RESCHEDULED. New Date 10/15/11.

Details

New Date! All 3/17/11 Tickets will be honored. Refunds at place of purchase through 10/14/11.

THU 3/17

7pm Doors

Loretta Lynn Postpones Concerts Due to Knee Surgery

Getty Images

Loretta Lynn has postponed a few concerts, due to a torn knee ligament that requires minor surgery.

Venues including Philadelphia's Temple Performing Arts Center and
Washington, D.C.'s 9:30 Club are telling ticket holders that the
78-year-old country legend must reschedule for a later date.

"She regrets disappointing any of her fans, but looks forward to
rescheduling her shows as soon as possible," a spokesperson for Loretta
tells The BootAt a concert on March 4 in Buffalo, New York, Loretta told the crowd of
her knee pain and asked their permission to continue the show while
seated. At one point during her performance, the audience could sense
Loretta was steeling herself against the pain, wrote a journalist for
the Buffalo News.
Loretta held the hand of her son, Ernest Ray, as she got out of the
chair to sing a medley of gospel songs before closing the show with 'Coal Miner's Daughter.'

She also took a seat on stage -- after about 15 minutes of standing --
at a recent concert in Greensboro, N.C., according to a journalist at Yes! Weekly, who also reported Loretta told the crowd the shoulder on which she had surgery in 2006 was giving her trouble that night.

Loretta's packed concert schedule, in sickness and in health, is not
unusual for the music icon. She performed shows until just a few days
before she underwent knee surgery in 2000. And she kept performing in
2009 after a bad bout with the flu, telling Billboard she was "feeling great."

Loretta received many honors last year when she marked her 50th Anniversary in show business, and the accolades keep coming. On April 4, she will be among those honored at 'Girls' Night Out: Superstar Women of Country - the Concert of the Year,' at the MGM Garden Arena in Las Vegas.

Critic's choice: Stagecoach Country Music Festival

LA TIMES :What makes this year's Stagecoach lineup particularly tantalizing is the first West Coast appearance in ages by country queen Loretta Lynn,
who demonstrated forcefully with her Jack White-produced 2004 album,
"Van Lear Rose," that she's still got a few surprises up those puffy
ballroom-gown sleeves she adores.

Legendary Lynn returns to 'Hamp stage

By GEORGE LENKER

As she celebrates 50 years in the business, Loretta Lynn may
be the Queen of Country music, but her influence reaches far
beyond Nashville.

One obvious example of this is shown on last year's
Lynn tribute CD, "Coal Miner's Daughter,"
which featured such diverse acts as Sheryl Crow, Kid Rock
and Jack White.

Cover story"Every one of them did a heck of a
job," Lynn said in a telephone interview from her
Tennessee home last week. "I was so proud of all of
them. I think it's great that they all did this and I
sure do appreciate it."

Lynn returns to the Calvin Theatre stage in Northampton on
Saturday, where she wowed the audience with a stunning
concert in 2007.

Lynn had quite the year in 2010. Along with the tribute
album (to which she contributed vocals on some tracks) she
also was honored by the Library of Congress by having the
song "Coal Miner's Daughter" selected for
preservation in its archives, and had a new type of rose
named after her: The Loretta Lynn Van Lear Rose.

"It was a real honor to have 'Coal Miner's
Daughter' picked like that," she said. "I
didn't even realize they did things like that, so I
couldn't believe it."

One reason Lynn is so revered by so many artists,
particularly women musicians, is that she served as their
role model. Before Lynn came along, there weren't a lot
of female singer-songwriters, at least not many successful
ones

Lynn said that the lack of role models when she started out
made things harder than they might have been.

"There were some women singers but they mostly fell by
the wayside after one hit," she said. "It was
rough when I started, but I just got in and did my best and
worked hard. I think writing my own material helped a lot
because I wrote from the heart and people liked that."

Lynn said she also never thought she would still be going
strong 50 years after she started singing professionally.

"I never imagined it, but I still love doing it,"
she said. "I enjoy working because I don't
overwork, but I have a routine down. I used work a lot more,
but now I pick my shows and sometimes I hold up better than
anyone else on road."

One reason Lynn may be able to keep her energy at such a
high level even while traveling is the improvised nature of
her concerts.

Rather than going by a rote, scripted set list, she usually
designs her concerts based on audience requests, something
that would be daunting for many younger artists. She does it
this way out of respect for her audience, she said.

"I let the crowd holler what they want to hear because
they paid their way in to see me, and they are going to
holler anyway," she said with a laugh. "You still
sometimes get tired of singing your own songs but you have
to do it, because the people deserve to hear what they
want."

Loretta Lynn performs at the Riviera

Posted by: Eli George

NORTH TONAWANDA, N.Y. (WIVB) - The landmark
marquee is lit up for a country superstar Thursday night in North
Tonawanda. Loretta Lynn has taken the stage at the Riviera Theatre.

The concert was a sellout, and the country music legend didn't disappoint the packed fans in the Riviera.

The coal miner's daughter has 70 albums to her name and 50 years in the music industry. She's a big name for the theatre,

She is the Heart, The Soul and the Very Lungs of Country

ALBUM REVIEW - LORETTA LYNN: 50TH ANNIVERSARY COLLECTION (WRASSE)

.

Album review - Loretta Lynn: 50th Anniversary Collection (Wrasse)

Friday February 25,2011

By Simon Gage

FIFTY years in the business has taken no toll
whatsoever on the songs on this budget collection of nearly 40 tracks,
all still fresher than your average daisy.

While some country stars are endlessly sobbing
into their ginghams, the tone of this collection from the Coal Miners
Daughter is much more upbeat with feisty tracks such as You Aint Woman
Enough, Your Squaw Is On The Warpath and Fist City (if you dont want
to go to Fist City, you better detour round my town).

She is the Heart,The Soul and the Very Lungs Of Country 5/5 STARS

Loretta is Hiring BE A PART OF COUNTRY MUSIC HISTORY

Currently
looking for special individuals who love being a part of preserving a
special collection within a museum celebrating the career of Loretta
Lynn. Ideally, a couple that enjoys life and loves being productive to
help with Lorettas own museum at her ranch in Hurricane Mills,
Tennessee! This rewarding position includes a wonderful experience to
share with fans world wide who come to visit Lorettas personal home in
Middle Tennessee. This position does include housing within the ranch
complex. For more information, contact ranchresume@lorettalynn.com

Country music goddess comes home

By Maude Kusserow

"Someone once asked me 'where did a lady like you learn to talk like that?' and I told him 'I'm from Kentucky.'"

Loretta
Lynn was a vision in white chiffon; every inch of her floor-length ball
gown sparkled and her hair was piled high on her head. As she took the
stage, there was a nanosecond of silence before the packed audience
inside the Louisville Palace stampeded into a cacophony of applause.
Some stood in their seats while others rushed into the aisles, animated
and bursting to welcome Kentucky's "Coal Miner's Daughter."

Loretta
Lynn was born in 1932 in Butcher Holler, Kentucky, the second of eight
children. Her father struggled to make a living as a coal miner during
the Depression, and though there was barely ever any money, "we got new
shoes once a year and wore'em thin until next year when we got ourselves
another new pair."

Lynn married her childhood love at thirteen
years old, and before the age of nineteen had four children. Her
famously controversial song "The Pill," which was released in the
seventies, demonstrates the type of songwriter Lynn is. "There's gonna
be some changes made/right here on this nursery hill/you've set this
chicken for the last time/since I've got the pill." Her musical career
rocketed in 1960 when she signed her first contract with Zero Records.
From there, the self-taught guitarist took on title of "Queen of
Country," releasing hits that embraced her roots and upbringing, such as
"I'm a Honky Tonk Girl" and "Blue-Eyed Kentucky Girl." Her single
"Don't Come Home Drinkin' (With Lovin' on Your Mind)" went to number-one
subsequently, making Lynn one of the first female country singers to
sell 500,000 records.

Part of Lynn's overwhelming popularity
doesn't have a lot to do with her musical abilities but is instead
attributed to the quick whit and the sharp tongue of a no no-nonsense,
take charge, strong and fiercely independent woman. Her songs often
reflect her infamously turbulent marriage to her husband Doolittle, who
cheated frequently and once left her while she was giving birth to their
third child.

Yet despite the hardships she faced in her life,
there is never a tone of self-pity or defeat in her music. At Friday's
concert, she sang "Fist City," in which she croons "I'm not sayin' my
baby's a saint 'cause he ain't/N' that he wont cat around with a
kitty/I'm here to tell ya gal to lay offa my man/If you don't wanna go
to fist city." Lynn turned to the audience and growled into the
microphone, "Girls, when you gotta fight a hussy for your man, you just
make sure you get the first lick [punch] in because there might not be a
second one," to which the audience erupted in applause.Tough-girl persona aside, Lynn knows how to embrace her vulnerability
and expresses the struggles she has faced. She sings about her husband
in the slow, haunting song, "When the Tingle Becomes a Chill" and
indicates her ceaseless love for her father in "They Don't Make Them
Like My Daddy Anymore." Her blunt honesty and out-of-this-world
songwriting abilities have made Loretta Lynn a country music superstar.

At
78 years old, she continues to rock out on stage and produce
gut-wrenching, chills-up-and-down-your-arms songs that bring people from
all ages, areas and social arenas to her concerts. With four Grammys,
seven American Music Awards, ten Academy of Country Music Awards, 160
songs and 70 albums-ten of which reached number one on the music
charts-Loretta Lynn is a country music goddess. And if you'd like to
debate her on that, she may just take you out back for a lickin'.

Behind The Lyric: Loretta Lynn, Portland, Oregon

By: American Songwriter

Thats the country-est album Ive ever done, says Loretta Lynn in our Legends interview about 2004s Van Lear Rose,
the album she made with producer Jack White. I told [Jack] that and he
said, Well, thank you. And hes not a country guy, hes rock and
roll. But when my movie came out, he was nine years old and he said, I
sat in the theater and watched it all day long. It just kept coming
back on and he kept watching it. Hes a good guy, Jack White is.

For the album, which went up for several Grammys and took home a few,
Lynn worked with the core band of guitarist Jack White, drummer Patrick
Keeler, bassist Jack Lawrence, and pedal steel guitarist Dave Feeney,
all of whom appear in the video for the song (below). The Midwest rock
crew turn Portland, Oregon into a bluesy romp, with heavy accents
balanced by a slow-building instrumental intro. I didnt know [Jack]
was gonna sing with me on Portland, Oregon, says Lynn. I walked in
the studio and I said, Who is that man singing it with me, Jack? and
he said, Thats me. I like Jack. Anything he did I thought was cool.

The song weaves a classic country tale  girl meets boy in a bar,
drinks ensue, the rest is history. One of the songs main characters 
the sloe gin fizz  would be more likely to pop up at the Roosevelt
Hotel in 1930s New Orleans than in a honky tonk in Oregon  not to
mention the fact that it would be served in a highball glass, not by the
pitcher. But, Lynn is plenty convincing all the same, transforming
hipster Portland, Oregon to suit her taste. The song seems like it could
be based on something Lynn observed of her audiences antics  much
like You Aint Woman Enough For My Man was inspired by a young woman
telling Lynn about her marital troubles backstage one night. But, like
any good country song, Portland, Oregon doesnt give away all its
secrets and may just be pure fantasy. When I write a song, the melody
just comes in my mind to fit that song, says Lynn. And if its a slow
tempo, I think of a slow melody to get in that mood. I let the song come
to me. I just gotta get by myself and get that song. And if it dont
come easy, I lay it down. And sometimes Ill pick it up, and sometimes I
wont ever go back to it. Portland, Oregon won a Grammy in 2005 for
Best Country Collaboration With Vocals. In the video for the song,
White, aged 28 at the time, leans over and kisses the 70-year-old Lynn.
If that aint love, then tell me what is.  DAVIS INMAN

Portland, Oregon

Well Portland, Oregon and sloe gin fizz
If that aint love then tell me what is
Well I lost my heart it didnt take no time
But that aint all  I lost my mind in Oregon

In a booth in the corner with the lights down low
I was movin in fast, she was takin it slow
Well I looked at him and caught him lookin at me
I knew right then we were playin free in Oregon

Next day we knew last night got drunk
But we loved enough for the both of us
In the morning when the night had sobered up
It was much too late for the both of us in Oregon

Well sloe gin fizz works might fast
When you drink it by the pitcher and not by the glass
Hey bartender before you close
Pour us one more drink and a pitcher to go

And a pitcher to go

Written by Loretta Lynn

Loretta Lynn to play Philadelphia in 2011

The
Coal-Miners Daughter, Loretta Lynn, will be heading to Philadelphia in
March to perform with The Secret Sissters at the new Temple Performing
Arts Center (formerly the Baptist Temple).

Lynn is celebrating her 50th year in country music with a new tribute
album, Coal Miners Daughter: A Tribute to Loretta Lynn, released
today on Columbia Records and featuring a diverse group of contributing
artists including Jack White, Reba McEntire, Kid Rock, Carrie Underwood,
Paramore, Steve Earle, Lucinda Williams, Gretchen Wilson and Alan
Jackson and Martina McBride.

Advertisement

To make it in this business, you either have to be, first, great or
different, says Lynn. And I was the first to ever go into Nashville,
singin it like the women lived it.

Temple Performing Arts Center is located at 1837 N. Broad St. (across from the Liacouras Center).

Tickets for the March 18 show go on sale Friday and are $62.50 and $72.50.

XPN Welcomes Loretta Lynn with The Secret Sisters

Country Music Superstar Loretta Lynn performs live with The Secret
Sisters. The Coal-Miners Daughter, Loretta Lynn celebrates her 50thyear
in country music with a new tribute album, special Grammy salute and a
concert in Philadelphia March 18th The Tribute album, Coal Miners Daughter: A
Tribute to Loretta Lynn, on Columbia Records
and features a diverse group of contributing artists including Jack
White, Reba McEntire, Kid Rock, Carrie Underwood, Paramore, Steve Earle,
Lucinda Williams, Gretchen Wilson and Alan Jackson and Martina McBride.

To make it in this business, you either have to be first, great or
different, says living legend Loretta Lynn. And I was the first to
ever go into Nashville, singin it like the women lived it.

Performance in Lew Klein Hall

Loretta Comes to Philadelphia

Loretta Lynn. This year, Wanda Jackson has gotten the
Jack White career-makeover treatment. In 2004, it was Loretta Lynn, the
tough-as-nails country great who became known to hipsters through Van Lear Rose,
produced by White. Here's a rare opportunity to see Lynn, the
78-year-old all-time country great, within the big-city limits. (March 18, the Temple Performing Arts Center.)

Is Loretta Lynn The Worlds First Female Rapper

story Alex Frank

Hey Best Coast, your recent and beautiful update of Loretta Lynns Fist City
sounded fresh. Couldve been one of your own, tucked in between songs
about heartbreak and weed. Youve reminded us just how 2K11 so many of
Lynns 1960s sentiments are. Half her songs are about fighting, really
brutal, too. The other half: drinking. Hello rap. Those two subjects
have helped define modern hip-hop, conceits that inspire mix tapes and
scrapes. Loretta would hold her own, wouldnt flinch from Lil Kims
hate. Nicki: listen up. Lorettas dress in the following performance of
the song is time machine Nicki Minaj, a sparkle perfect for Barbs if she
were playing the Grand Ole Opry in a different era. Can we
give Loretta Lynn the tiara for worlds first female rapper? Check out a
video of her performance of Fist City and Best Coasts cover after
the jump.

Loretta Lynn to perform at Louisville Palace

By: Jeffery Lee PuckettLoretta Lynn left Kentucky in 1949, moving cross-country from Johnson
County to Washington state as a 14-year-old bride who was used to hard
living and prepared for it to stay that way Her husband, Doolittle, traded coal mining for logging, and they had
the first of six children. She also began writing songs, working on a
verse or two between canning vegetables and raising a family. Her life
eventually took a far different path than she had expected, one that led
to the Country Music Hall of Fame. But in many ways, her life was no
less hard.

Lynn
has never again lived in Kentucky, but she, perhaps more than any other
homegrown artist, is forever entwined with the hills and hollers of the
Bluegrass State. When her song Coal Miner's Daughter came out, she even inspired a name change for her birthplace, as Webb Hollow officially became Butcher Hollow.

Me
and Doo went back and stayed some when we was in Washington, she said,
calling from her ranch in Tennessee. We'd stay a couple, three months
at a time, but I haven't lived there and I do miss old Kentucky. I
really do.

I want
me and Crystal and my other two sisters to go spend a week or two up in
that holler, just stay in the old house, cook and build pallets on the
floor and just have a good time. We're planning on doing that some
time.

Kentucky's rich history of music has included more than a few important artists  Bill Monroe, Lionel Hampton, The Everly Brothers, Merle Travis, Rosemary Clooney  with a collective impact as substantial as it is revered.

But
perhaps none is as beloved as Lynn, who rose from the hollers of Van
Lear in Johnson County to become an icon of country music and a symbol
of the hard-scrabble land where she was born.

Now
76, Lynn is enjoying a career resurgence. Last year, she celebrated
her 50th anniversary in music by accepting a Grammy Lifetime Achievement
Award, putting out a new edition of her Coal Miner's Daughter
autobiography, and even had a rose invented for her. The Loretta Lynn
Van Lear will make its debut at her Tennessee ranch this spring.On Friday, Lynn returns home for a show at the Louisville Palace, about six months after her performance at the HullabaLOU Music Festival. That show took place in blistering midday heat that was sorely testing 28-year-olds, but Lynn has survived worse.She was born into poverty. Doolittle, who died in 1996, had a
famously roving eye for all 48 years of their marriage. A son, Jack
Benny, drowned at age 34. She was on the road for much of her children's
upbringing; the stress caused such bad migraines that sometimes she'd
pass out on stage.

And
yet this year she's planning on releasing at least two albums,
including her first collection of new songs since her 2004 comeback
record, Van Lear Rose, made with The White Stripes' Jack White. She
and John Carter Cash have recorded more than 60 songs, enough for four
albums, and she has added quite a few more shows to her touring
schedule.

I just
took a notion to work, she said. I didn't do that much last year so I
just thought I'd work this year like I used to, and I think I can do it,
too. To tell you the truth, I think I hold up better than the younger
girls because they just ain't into it like we were. You have to be able
to work and forget about how hard it is, but I've always been used to
working and it's never bothered me that much.

I
was telling my little granddaughter that I left behind 3,000 quarts of
canned stuff when I left Washington state, and that was the hardest
thing I've ever done was leaving all that. That was a lot of work.

Lynn
said that her new songs all touch on aspects of her life. She agreed
that young music fans keep seeking her out because of the honesty of
songs such as Fist City, You Ain't Woman Enough (To Take My Man) and
When The Tingle Becomes A Chill.

You
know, it's everyday life. They're all living it, and really, when I
wrote these songs I thought I was just writing about how I lived, she
said. I had never thought anybody else had ever lived like me, and my
songs tell the story. Fist City' and You Ain't Woman Enough'  them
women out there love 'em.Lynn was among the first women to become a major country star, following
the path blazed by Kitty Wells, and she was a force on country radio
for most of the 1960s, '70s and early '80s. She was the first woman to
win the Country Music Association's entertainer of the year award, and
several of her hits broke barriers in Nashville. The Pill and Rated
X addressed a woman's rights, for example, and Dear Uncle Sam was an
anti-war song released as Vietnam was heating upHer popularity peaked with the 1969 release of Coal Miner's
Daughter. A hit autobiography in 1976 had the same title, as did the
1980 film starring Sissy Spacek and Tommy Lee Jones.

You
know, I had six other verses to Coal Miner's Daughter' and Owen
Bradley, my producer at the time, said Loretta, get in that room and
take off six of them verses. There's already been one El Paso' and
there'll never be another.'

I
thought it was just a song about my life, and he never thought it'd be a
hit. So I took six verses off and you know I never have found them six
verses. I must have left them in the studio. I may have to add a couple
more verses and do that thing again.As country music grew more pop in the 1980s, Lynn's star faded, and
she spent much of the 1990s caring for an ailing Doolittle and expanding
Loretta Lynn's Ranch in Hurricane Mills, Tenn. After Doolittle's death
she fell into a depression that was only lifted when she began touring,
and visiting fans old and new remains one of her favorite things. Her
shows are 90 minutes of hits, and Lynn never fails to sing the songs
that lifted her out of poverty.I
do enjoy touring, she said, and if I didn't I wouldn't do it. I'd
just hang it up, but you know we turn them away just about everywhere we
go so what are you gonna do? They still come out. I'll work as long
as I want to, let's just say it that way.

Loretta Lynn: Honky Tonk Girl American Songwriter

By Paul Zollo:

Some people are just born with it. With the gift for writing songs.
Songs come to them, and they just need to write them down. It doesnt
take any agony or even much thought, it just takes time with a guitar
alone to capture them as they fly by. Thats the case with Loretta Lynn.
Right out of the gate, she wrote songs richer and deeper than the
finest songs emerging out of Nashville. And she sang them with robust
bravado, this little girl dressed up like Annie Oakley, and ascended
swiftly to Nashville royalty as one of country musics greatest singers
and songwriters.

Born in 1932 in Kentucky, she married her beloved Doolittle (Oliver
Vanetta Lynn) when she was only 13, and had four of her six kids before
she was an adult. He gave her a guitar for her 24th birthday, and she
started playing and singing as if shed done it her whole life. Her
first two songs, Whispering Sea and Im A Honky Tonk Girl were also
the twin sides of her first single. And when people heard that voice
with those songs, songs that reflected country life as it was really
lived, they fell in love.

After those two, the songs kept coming. When the Nashville crowd
first heard her music, they were stunned. Roy Acuff said he couldnt
fathom how she could write such astounding songs  every one a little
movie  after never writing before. Gradually she created a bounty of
work, a deep well of country music splendor from which singers have
drawn for years. A new tribute album, Coal Miners Daughter, A Tribute to Loretta Lynn,
has just been released, featuring Steve Earle, The White Stripes,
Carrie Underwood, Kid Rock, Lucinda Williams and others, to coincide
with the 50th anniversary of her debut.

Lynn attributes it all to telling the truth. But sometimes the truth
wasnt what the good ol boys in Nashville wanted to hear, because it
reflected too closely the reality of the changes America went through in
the 60s, such as The Pill and Rated X, both of which were promptly
banned from radio, and both which went to Number 1, sparked by
controversy.

Today shes home in her sun-dappled writing room, tending, as she
often must, to the business of being Loretta Lynn. But as anyone who
knows her will attest, she is no diva, quite the opposite. When told
that its an honor for this writer to interview her, she just laughs,
and says, Honey, dont say that. You can interview me anytime.

You once said you would rather be remembered as a songwriter than a singer.

I would. Way before I started singing, I was trying to write. I lived
out in the state of Washington and I had my four babies out there. I
was trying to write everyday and I didnt know how. So I looked at the
songbooks and thought that anyone could do that, so I just started
writing. Whispering Sea was my first song and then Honky Tonk Girl
was my second song.

Did songwriting come easy to you?

Yes. When I started writing, my husband was out on the ocean fishing,
and I wrote Whispering Sea. Whispering sea, roll on by, dont you
listen to me cry.

Honky Tonk Girl came from a lady who kept coming into the little
club. Doo got me a job working for five dollars on Saturday nights, a
little club. She came every time I worked. She told me that her husband
had left her for another woman. Shed sit there and cry. She picked
strawberries with me during the time when strawberries were ripe. And
when strawberry picking was over, she kept coming to the club and
crying. And I wrote Honky Tonk Girl from that.

So you have an idea first before you start writing?

Yes. I had to have a real reason to write a song. I wrote them about
true things. And I just kind of kept that up. Id write the words by
thinking and watching.

Do you write a whole lyric before the music?

No, I start the music on guitar with the first two or three lines.

Many of your songs are in odd keys, not normal guitar keys. Honky Tonk Girl is in C#.

Yeah, I know it. I dont know why. They told me in Nashville they
couldnt believe it, what youre writing! All your keys are funny.
Cause they wrote D, G and A, you know. I was going out on a limb a
little bit, but I didnt realize that. I started playing rhythm guitar
with my brother and a steel player when I first started singing. And I
played barre chord rhythm. I had all sorts of notes on the guitar at
that time, now I probably wouldnt remember all of them.

Since I learned all the keys, I just thought everybody did it that
way. And evidently I was different. I was so far away from country
music. I was a long way from Nashville, Tennessee.

I never knew another songwriter until I came to Nashville and met
Harlan Howard. And he said, Who in the heck taught you to play rhythm
guitar like that? I said, I taught myself. He said, I cant believe
youre the writer you are and taught yourself to play rhythm guitar like
that. But I did.

How old were you when you started playing?

24. Well, I had four kids, one right after the other. And when all
four kids were in school, I started writing. My husband got me a job
making $5 on a Saturday night and I thought I was gonna get rich. I
saved my money up and bought me a black skirt with fringe, and these
cowboy boots  they were $14  and, well, I looked like Annie Oakley. I
didnt know that people didnt look like that. I come to Nashville and
Im the only one who walked in looking like a country singer, with my
boots and my guitar round my neck, Ive come to sing.

When I first started singing, although I was writing songs, I did
other peoples songs, like I Walked Away From The Wreck. Owen Bradley
told me, You start doing your own stuff. But I was afraid they
wouldnt go over. I put out records, but they didnt do nothing until I
started doing my own songs. And they went to Number 1. I was hitting
home with them, I guess, with the honky tonk music.

Your songs are so rich in detail. Did that come naturally to you?

Yeah, it just come naturally. I think anyone could do it. I think a
lot of people try to write songs that are a little out of reach. And
they should just sit down and write what they know. And what they see.

Coal Miners Daughter is such a vivid picture of your childhood.

I had more verses. Owen Bradley said, Loretta, theres already been
one El Paso and well never have another one. Get in that room and
start taking some of those verses off. Yeah, I took six verses off.

Six? It has four we know, so it had 10 verses altogether?

Yeah, I had a whole story going. I wished Id never thrown them away.
If Id kept them, I could record them now and put them back in the
song.

You dont remember them at all?

No, but I should sit down and start rewriting on that song, and come
up with some more verses. I threw them away and I should never have done
that.

Its amazing to think of you writing a song like that so
easily  not only is it richly detailed, but you have great craft in
there, like rhyming Butcher Holler with poor mans dollar.

Well, that was the truth. Everything that I put in that song was
true. I lived all of it. Ive lived a lot of stuff that I wrote. Of
course Doo, my husband, wouldnt have wanted to heard that. But I did. I
never had to lie about anything I was writing about. That was my
problem. I didnt lie. And sometimes Owen would say, I dont know
whether you should put that out there now. Doo might divorce you. And
Id say, Let him divorce me, its the truth.

And he never did.

No, he never did. He knew they were true.

Would you always play new songs for him?

Oh yeah. I let him hear it first.

Was he honest in his response?

Yeah, he never denied any of it. He was always honest. If he liked
it, he liked it. If he didnt, hed say, I dont think thats so good.
And Id throw it away and start again.

Were you there when they shot the movie about your life, Coal Miners Daughter?

Id seen some of it. I would fly into a place if Sissy [Spacek]
needed me. Sometimes theyd call me and say, Loretta, can you fly in?
Shes been crying all day. Id fly in and thered be part of the movie
that bothered her, and shed be crying, and Id try to shut her up. Id
say, Im here, why are you crying?

But she did such a good job. For the first year, I was doing two
shows a night. And Id bring her onstage. I took her on the Opry with me
four times before the movie started. It was so hard on me, but we made
it.

What inspired You Aint Woman Enough For My Man?

You Aint Woman Enough come to me when a little girl come back
stage and said her husband didnt bring her to the show, he brought his
girlfriend. This was before the show started, and she wanted me to look
out the curtain and see what this girl looked like. I peaked out and
there she was, painted up like you wouldnt believe. I looked round at
the little girl that was talking to me. And she didnt have no makeup at
all. And I said, Honey, she aint woman enough to take your man.

I went right straight to my dressing room and wrote it in ten
minutes. Ten minutes and a lot of money I made on that song. A lot of
people have recorded it.

Is writing a song in ten minutes unusual for you?

Sometimes they work, and sometimes they just wont. Sometimes you get
hung up on them. When that happens, you just throw it back, and maybe
come back to it two or three weeks later.

Some of your songs were quite controversial, and even banned, such as The Pill, about birth control.

Oh yeah. The Pill. Also Ones On The Way. They started hollering
about some of the songs and banned them from the radio. But immediately,
when people would hear theyd been banned from the radio, theyd hit
Number 1 in a hurry. And then [radio] would have to play them. If they
had listeners, theyd have to play the one that was banned.

Did you enjoy making the album Van Lear Rose with Jack White?

Thats the country-est album Ive ever done. I told [Jack] that and
he said, Well, thank you. And hes not a country guy, hes rock and
roll. But when my movie came out, he was nine years old and he said, I
sat in the theater and watched it all day long. It just kept coming
back on and he kept watching it. Hes a good guy, Jack White is.

I didnt know he was gonna sing with me on Portland, Oregon. I
walked in the studio and I said, Who is that man singing it with me,
Jack? and he said, Thats me. I like Jack. Anything he did I thought
was cool.

Do you write the music for a song before you finish the words?

Yes. I write the melody as soon as I finish the first verse. Its got
to fit the song. If it dont fit the song, I dont think itll come
easy. But I think if it comes easy, then the melody is gonna be okay.

How do you create melodies yourself?

When I write a song, the melody just comes in my mind to fit that
song. And if its a slow tempo, I think of a slow melody to get in that
mood. I let the song come to me. I just gotta get by myself and get that
song. And if it dont come easy, I lay it down. And sometimes Ill pick
it up, and sometimes I wont ever go back to it.

Can you write at any time of day?

Night is best.

When you come up with an idea, do you always write it down right away?

If I dont, Ill never remember it. Ive got to write it down right then, or Ill lose it.

Do you remember writing Miss Being Mrs.?

Oh yeah. You know, that just came, to be truthful with you, from one
of those things where I just thought, I miss being Mrs. tonight. When
youre not married anymore  which Im not, my husband passed away 14
years ago  naturally, youre gonna feel that way. And you just miss
being Mrs.

Youre good with wordplay like that. Like in Coal Miners
Daughter, when you say I remember well the well where I drew water. A
beautiful use of language.

Well, when I thought of that I felt it was a good line to use. And
then I got to thinking maybe nobody will really understand that line, so
maybe I shouldnt use it. But I let it go anyway and thought, yeah, Im
gonna use it.

And we understand.

You knew it was good, didnt you? Well, bless your heart. Boy, Ive
drawn a lot of water out of that old well back in Kentucky. That was my
job. To go and get the water.

Do you remember writing Rated X?

Yeah, that was about a married woman. Things didnt work out and she
was divorced. I probably sat down and talked to her. She told me the
story and I just wrote it.

I love your song Van Lear Rose.

I had to talk about Mommy in there. She had the biggest bluest eyes I
ever seen. She was a beautiful woman. I remember back when she was 32,
33 years old. Mommy was so beautiful. I always wanted to be as beautiful
as Mommy. Never made it. She had long black hair, beautiful blue eyes
and a dark complexion. She was Indian and Irish. My father was Indian
and Irish. And the Irish have great personalities you know. And most of
them sing. People from Ireland, you know, they come into this country
singing. Theres a couple of them in Branson right now singing. And
Indians are in touch with nature. Thats me. I wrote about things that
have happened. I probably took after the Indian part on that.

Do you remember writing Youre Looking At Country?

Yeah. I remember we came home. Weve got about 12 or 1300 acres. I
was out riding around and I looked over towards the field. Doo and
Hattie all planted some corn, and I thought, Now youre looking at
country. And immediately I come into the house and went to the writing
room and wrote it.

Are there songs you start that you cant finish?

Oh yeah. Ive had a lot of them. I dont know why I dont go back and
finish them. I just kind of quit writing. I havent written a song in a
long time.

Why?

Lazy. But Im gonna get back to it.

Youve written so many classics that you have nothing left to prove.

True, I dont have a thing to prove, but if I write, Im gonna prove
something. Dont do anything that you cant do best. I dont believe in
doing something that I dont know is good. If I go back to writing, I
bet there will be a good song out of it. If I write ten songs, there
will be three good ones out of it. I wont dedicate my life to something
thats not good.

What advice would you give songwriters?

Write about the truth. If you write about the truth, somebodys living that. Not just somebody, theres a lot of people.

Marty Robbins' country song "El Paso," released in fall 1959,
immortalized a romance in a far West Texas town. It reached No. 1 on
both the country and pop music charts at the start of 1960 and winning
the Grammy Award for Best Country & Western Recording in 1961.The
song was so great that when Loretta Lynn was in the studio working on
her song "Coal Miner's Daughter," her producer had some choice advice
for her.You know, I had six other verses to Coal Miner's
Daughter' and Owen Bradley, my producer at the time, said Loretta, get
in that room and take off six of them verses," Lynn told the Louisville
Courier-Journal recently. "There's already been one El Paso' and
there'll never be another.' I thought ('Coal Miner's Daughter') was just
a song about my life, and he never thought it'd be a hit. So I took six
verses off and you know I never have found them six verses. I must have
left them in the studio. I may have to add a couple more verses and do
that thing again."Coal Miner's Daughter" was released in 1969 and became a big hit.Lynn,
76, is enjoying a career resurgence and last year celebrated her 50th
anniversary in music by accepting a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award,
putting out a new edition of her Coal Miner's Daughter autobiography,
and even had a rose invented for her. The Loretta Lynn Van Lear will
make its debut at her Tennessee ranch this spring.

Folk-country singer-songwriter Eilen Jewell goes all-out twang on "Butcher Holler: A Tribute to Loretta Lynn," a collection of a dozen songs by the coal miner's daughter re-recorded by Jewell and her three-piece backing band.

The album - named for Lynn's Kentucky hometown - isn't just a
greatest-hits revue. Instead, Jewell pays tribute to Lynn's songwriting
by selecting tunes that Lynn wrote herself. Even more impressive than
Lynn's authorship, though, are the topics she tackled. Such subjects as
adultery ("Another Man Loved Me Last Night") and rebounding with a
stranger ("A Man I Hardly Know") may seem commonplace today, but they
weren't exactly acceptable topics in the 1960s and '70s - especially
sung from a woman's perspective.

Wisely, Jewell does little to reinterpret these songs. Her delivery is
laid-back and her voice is sweet, but even that calm demeanor can't
belie the strength and independence in these songs, from the sassy
"Don't Come Home A-Drinkin' (with Lovin' on Your Mind)" to the
threatened revenge in "Fist City." The Loretta Lynn that Eilen Jewell
channels may sound sweet, but she packs a powerful punch.

- Catherine P. Lewis

Loretta Lynn To Perform In Miami OK

MIAMI, Okla. 
For more than 50 years, Americas most famous coal miners daughter has
been adored by her fans. While many music artists receive adoration
thanks to 24-hour entertainment web sites and videos on You Tube,
country singer Loretta Lynn has done it the old-fashioned way.

During a bus tour of the East Coast, Lynn was found by a local reporter scribbling out autographs to her fans.

When asked her why she took so much time to sign autographs with at
least 100 more waiting patiently in line, Lynn just smiled and shrugged
her shoulders.

These people are my fans, she said. Ill stay here until the very
last one wants my autograph. Without these people, I am nobody; I love
these people.

Lynn, who became one of the first female country artists to reach sales
exceeding 500,000 with her 1967 song, Dont Come Home A Drinkin
(With Lovin On Your Mind), will be performing live tonight at Buffalo
Run Casino.

Lynn isnt just a pretty voice. In many ways shes both a country
musical trendsetter and maverick. Her first self-penned song to crack
the Top 10, 1966s Dear Uncle Sam, was among the very first recordings
to recount the human costs of the Vietnam War.

Beginning with 1966s No. 2 hit You Aint Woman Enough, Lynn began
writing songs with a feminist viewpoint, which was unheard of in country
music at the time. Other similar songs followed, such as Fist City,
What Kind of a Girl (Do You Think I Am) and To Make a Man (Feel Like a
Man).

In 1973, her song Rated X peaked at No. 1 on the Billboard Country
Chart, and was considered one of Lynns most controversial hits. Two
years later, The Pill was the first song to discuss birth control.

Despite the mature nature of many of her songs, they failed to drive
fans away. The opposite, in fact, occurred. Lynns openness and honesty
drew fans from around the nation, including some who didnt consider
themselves country music fans.

It was Lynns 1970 song, Coal Miners Daughter, that elevated Lynn even further into stardom.

The song -- still Lynns most popular -- told of her life from poverty
to fame, growing up as she did in rural Butcher Hollow, Ky., and
marrying her husband at the age of 13.

The song launched a best-selling biography in 1976 and an Oscar-winning movie, starring Sissy Spacek, in 1980.

.

Loretta Lynn Modern Gothic

Loretta Lynn learned her first songs from her mother, who would sit her
daughter on top of an old sewing machine and sing while she went about
her chores in the poor, newsprint-papered shack where Lynn, known to her
fans as the Coal Miners Daughter, was raised. Lynn, whos lived the
life of a poor, rural teenage mother and of a Country Music Hall of
Famer, has often described those first songs as story songs, saying,
You know, something would happen and theyd make a song out of it. The
old melodies often chronicled disasters like floods and fires. The
Great Titanic is the one she repeats most often. From those early days
growing up, Lynn has associated music with real events, and her body of
work, though often raw and personal, plays through like a history of
femininity in the 20th century.

Lynns life has more than its share of gothic turns, and the singer
swears her recent comeback began when she heard the voice of her dead
husband telling her to get out of bed. Known for her floor-length gowns
and poor family-planning, she may not seem like the portrait of a modern
woman. But at a time when country music was still a boys club, Lynn
converted her personal history into chart-bursting hits that ranged from
classic three-chord honky-tonk (Dont Come Home A-Drinkin with Lovin
on Your Mind) to controversial anthems of social change (The Pill).

In one of her best-known songs, Lynn, who was born during the
Great Depression and who won a Best Country Album in 2004 for the Jack
White-produced Van Lear Rose, declares, When youre looking at
me, youre looking at country, which, while true, doesnt go quite far
enough. Youre also looking at history.  Chris Davis

NEW ROSE NAMED FOR LORETTA LYNN

Country legend honored with the Loretta Lynn Van Lear

To celebrate the release of the multi-artist tribute album Coal Miners Daughter: A Tribute to Loretta Lynn on November 9th,
Sony Music Nashville presented country music legend Loretta Lynn with
her very own rose. The first Loretta Lynn Van Lear rose plants  named
after the artists GRAMMY® Award-winning album Van Lear Rose - will be delivered to the artists ranch in the spring of 2011, with more available for purchase shortly after.

Roses have always been so special to me  Ive loved them since I
was a girl, said Loretta. So to have a rose named after one of my
albums . . . well, Im not sure I quite have the words for that! Im
just very, very honored. I cant wait to have those Van Lear roses
blooming in my yard! she added.

Developed by Brad Jalbert of Select Roses, the Loretta Lynn Van
Lear classes as a floribunda, an ever-blooming hybrid known for its
deep color. The blooms hue is described as a rich apricot, and the buds
on the rose open into a cottage style flower. The plant is bushy and
dense, growing to about 2 feet, considered an ideal size for most
gardens or large containers.

This is one of those roses that has turned out to be a crowd
favorite at the nursery! said Jalbert. It is a very charming rose that
all our customers have noticed when the test plants were on display.

Both country music fans and rose enthusiasts will need to practice
patience when trying to secure a Loretta Lynn Van Lear rose bush of
their own: We are just now building up stock of this rose, and will
have a few plants available spring 2010 for our local customers here in
British Columbia, with more being available in coming years, said
Jalbert. However, there will be a Canadian company, who ships to the
US, who will have plants for mail order by the fall of 2011.

Luckily, a new homage to one of countrys true musical pioneers is available now. Coal Miners Daughter: A Tribute to Loretta Lynn has garnered an impressive collection of critical praise. Rolling Stone referred to the project as a tribute to the toughest Nashville queen ever, this record has a steely spine, while the Los Angeles Times commented
that the broad reach of Loretta Lynns influence is immediately
evident in this salute one of countrys true legends gets a consistently
heartfelt tip of the hat from a representative swath of the countless
lives her music has touched. Loretta Lynn writes songs that knock you
on your head and off your feet, The Washington Post noted.
For 50-plus years, [Lynn] has stamped the country charts with her tunes
of trouble, turmoil, payback and sweet satisfaction. And on this
perfectly rough-around-the- edges tribute album, a host of like-minded
musicians  country and otherwise  join in the fun and fury.

2010 was a year of tributes and acknowledgements for this country music legend, as it marked the 50th
anniversary of Loretta Lynns chart debut in 1960. In January, Loretta
was presented with the GRAMMY Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition
of her legacy and career achievements. In June, Coal Miners Daughter
was one of only 25 sound recordings chosen in 2010 for preservation
within the National Recording Registry of the Library of Congress, which
annually honors a select group of recordings for their cultural,
historic, or aesthetic significance. Then in October, The Recording
Academy hosted GRAMMY Salute to Country Music, celebrating Loretta at
Nashvilles Ryman Auditorium with a star-studded tribute concert. At the
concert, Loretta was presented with the Presidents Merit Award,
honoring her cultural influence and contributions to country music.